The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 53

Joys and lieaswreak- a What's an Arab I still do not know! and son THE ABC's Sunday night drama spot has long been a source of pleasure for viewers who like their drama to be of substance rather than dressed up froth. Tonight at 730 another such series begins. It is Jeremy Paul's fix-part New ABC program gives all a fair go CONSUMER affairs will get an airing ip a new live-to-air series called The Investigators which the ABC plans to screen from March 6. According to Lloyd Capps, the executive producer, the 30-week series will be "hard-hitting and The series will explain the rights of consumers and traders in all States and territories of Australia. Said Capps: "In this sort of program there's a tendency for the consumer to be cast as the hero and the trader as the villain.

That's rarely the case so The Investigators will be devoid of typecast heroes and villains. Rights "What we aim to do is conciliate and sort out problems between consumers andor traders who feel their rights have been threatened." Reporters on the program will be Sonia Humphrey, Ian Altsch wager, John Hosking and Clare Petre. Also appearing each week will be comedian David Gibson, who will do a short skit on a particular issue. LQfeiPf Si' adaptation of Warwick ing two years when, in an England plagned by unemployment, he finds that there's no work for a gentleman without qualifications. After his wife leaves him and their 11-year-old son Kit for greener pastures, Sorrell realises that there's dignity in any kind of labour.

Educating his son will be his life's work at whatever cost to He whatever menial jobs are available starting, with being the odd-job man at a seedy public bouse. The series follows his fortunes and those of Kit and the result is a story certainly of hardship but, more importantly, of courage and determination. It is also a story of a relationship between a father and son, of mutual respect and love. Richard Pascoe brings a quiet intensity to the character of Sorrell. It is a wonderfully sad, joyful and dignified performance.

Paul Critchley as the young Kit is most effective. Deepiog's classic Sorrell and Son. This is a story to be savoured rather than gulped. Like To Serve Them All My Days, it is a gently, richly-told tale. The drama comes not from momentous.

events but rather from the every -day joys and disappointments of a father and son struggling to survive against the odds. The series spans the 20 years between World Wars I and II. In brief bnt effective flashbacks we learn how Captain Sorrell, winner of the Military Cross, returned from the war full of hope for the future. These hopes are QUIET INTENSITY: Richard Pasco as Sorrell and Paul Critchlay as his son. dashed during the follow ABOUT 180 million people in the world call themselves Arabs.

Why? An epic 10-part documentary series beginning tonight on the ABC at 8.20 tries to answer this question by exploring the history and culture of the Arab world and by talking to Arabs. Called a Living History, the programs are made with the help of some of the world's experts on Arab affairs. Each program is written and presented by an Arab, the first one being Professor Basil Musallam, a Lebanese lecturer in the social history of the Arab World at the University of Pennsylvania in the US. Professor Musallam asks Arabs in the Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait and Morocco what it means to them to be an Arab and delves into Arab history, While much of this first program is interesting and includes some devastating footage of a Beirut of burnt-out cars, bombed apartment blocks and bullet-pitted buildings, it is hard to follow. It is a jumble of places and people and by the end of the program I still had no clear idea as to what being an Arab means and why it was so important to have this sense of identity.

"We are many things in one thing," said one of those interviewed. That is, you could have three identities that you could be an Arab, a Muslim and, say, a Moroccan. I was left with the feeling that the importance of identifying oneself primarily as an Arab was not because of cultural or historical ties but rather because of the power a united Arab world would have. Oo03D if? mew sMtem But doubles his family ACTOR Alan Dale, a solo parent himself, will play the role of a father bringing up four children alone in the new Channel 7 soap Neighbours, in production in Melbourne. The serial, which is expected to be on air by March; centres on the lives of people living in the same street.

As Jim Robinson, one of the major characters, Dale's children will range in age from nine to 21. In real life, 37-year-old Dale has two sons, Matthew, 15, and Simon, 14, who live with him in Sydney. He was told he had the role early last week and started work immediately. "I am still trying to get used to having this enormous brood of children who are so old," said Dale. "My own sons, however, are bigger than them in size.

Matthew is 6ft 2in while Simon is 5ft 10in." He feels his own experiences as a single parent will help him in his new television role. "There are situations that are very similar to the ones I have had to meet myself," he said. "Living in the same situation will help. For example, I am very tactile with my kids I kiss and cuddle them a lot and if I hadn't had kids of my own and of that size I wouldn't have known that people really did behave like this." Late last week Dale was busy packing for the move to Melbourne this weekend. Like most Australian actors he's philosophical about having to move to where the work is.

"It is the nature of the business," he said. "Obviously it would be better if I didn't have to because it is fairly disruptive to the boys' education. "But they're pretty pleased about the move. They like the idea of what I'll be doing. They will miss their mates, though." Dale's last reguler television role was as Dr John Forrest in the long running soap Young Doctors.

The series was axed in 1982 and he admits it hasn't always been easy since then. "I've had some quiet times," he laughed, adding: "But when I look back now it hasn't been too bad. A lot of other actors have had it a lot worse." In the last year he has been working on 2UE, first as a weekend jock and then filling in mostly on the midnight to dawn show weekdays but also for Ita Buttrose for four weeks. Possession Just before Christmas he started work on Channel 9's new soap. Possession.

He plays Stevens, a soliciter who made his first, brief appearance on Thursday night r- Although it is a small role, it continues for a while yet and for the time' being. Dale will be popping backwards and forwards between Melbourne and Sydney. He explained: "It's just not practical shooting here and there, doing a play in one city, a movie there. I wouldn't have it any other way." to see the light MULTICULTURAL tele-visioa will expand into daytime television from February 18, the day the network also changes its name to SBS-TV. A variety of programs, including movies and international series aimed particularly at shiftworkers will be shown from 11 am to 2 pm Monday to Friday.

The reason for the name chaage is because the network is unable to use the 028 call sign ia Brisbane where it will be screening from June, 1985, as the commercial channel TVQ-0 is already in operation there. BULLSEYE! MICHAEL Willesee's documentary The Hunting Party ha been sold to the BBC, which is rushing it to air next month. In the program, Willesee pits a group of Aboriginies led by actor David Gulpilil against a band of army reserves during a race from one point in the Northern Territory to a town several days' hike away. According to Channel 9, which screened the doco last year, the BBC plans to launch it with a big publicity campaign. SALE: Mika Wills.

Mika Wiltas 53 THE SUN-HERALD, Jan 20. 1985 53.